One Daytona project leader leaves firm, but development moves forward, on schedule

Wednesday

Sep 3, 2014 at 6:41 PMSep 3, 2014 at 11:22 PM

By CLAYTON PARKclayton.park@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH — The developers of One Daytona lost a key executive this week, but the project doesn’t appear to be missing a beat, with “more than a dozen” national chains having signed letters of intent, officials said Wednesday.Brian Leary, one of the executives overseeing the planned $800 million retail, residential and office project across the street from Daytona International Speedway, has resigned to take a position with a North Carolina company.Charlotte-based Crescent Communities announced its hiring of Leary as the new president of its commercial and mixed-use division. Leary was previously managing director for Jacoby Development, the Atlanta-based 50-50 joint development partner with International Speedway Corp. on One Daytona.Jim Jacoby, the chairman and CEO of Jacoby Development, said Leary, whose last day with his company was on Tuesday, left on good terms and was a “fantastic” member of his team.“You can never replace a Brian Leary ... but we’ve got a good bench here,” he added.Jacoby said his company and ISC officials recently attended an International Council of Shopping Centers conference in the Orlando area where they met with several national retail and restaurant chains. He said momentum for the project is picking up, with “more than a dozen” national chains signing letters of intent to become tenants. Jacoby said those tenants are expected to be announced within the next few weeks. “The majority will be new to the market,” he said.Gentry Baumline-Robinson, a spokeswoman for Daytona Beach-based ISC, said Leary’s departure does not affect the One Daytona project.“Nothing has changed. One Daytona is still on track to break ground this year with an opening in 2016,” Baumline-Robinson said of the 190-acre development that will include a 12-screen Cobb Theatres movie complex, a Bass Pro Shops store and a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel.Leary, in an email, wrote that he decided to resign from Jacoby because “the role with Crescent in Charlotte was a tremendous personal opportunity for both career and family. I took great care to make sure that before I left the Jacoby team there was 100 percent confidence with the entire team that everything would continue to move forward with One Daytona as planned, with ISC and Jacoby Development still guiding its success. I look forward to being there on opening day in 2016.”Jacoby said his company recently hired two industry veterans to join its One Daytona team: Loni Shepherd, who will be involved in retail leasing, and Mike Lant, who will work on “vertical development.”Jacoby said he also has been and will continue to be personally involved in the project, as will other Jacoby Development executives, including Scott Condra, the company’s president.Jacoby Development a few years ago redeveloped Marineland in Flagler County, where Jacoby still owns property. “My commitment to that (Volusia-Flagler) area has been for a long time,” he said.On ISC’s side, the One Daytona project has been spearheaded by Craig Neeb, senior vice president of business development, and Scott Bullock, managing director of corporate development, Baumline-Robinson said.Lesa France Kennedy, ISC’s CEO, also has been directly involved in One Daytona, a project that ISC initiated prior to Jacoby Development’s signing on as a joint venture partner in early 2013.“She’s been involved in every aspect of the project,” from selecting the lead architect, Howard Elkus of Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects, to offering recommendations regarding the project’s design standards and recruiting tenants, including national retail, hotel and restaurant chains, Baumline-Robinson said.Crescent Communities, a real estate development company with active projects throughout the Southeast, does not currently have projects in the Volusia-Flagler area, but is a former developer of the Grand Haven golf course community in Palm Coast as well as three other Palm Coast golf courses: Cypress Knoll, Pine Lakes and Matanzas Woods.Its involvement in those Flagler County projects was through its now-defunct subsidiary, Jacksonville-based LandMar Group.Leary was a public face for One Daytona, giving presentations about the project at local business gatherings throughout the Volusia-Flagler area, including last week’s Think Flagler First luncheon in Palm Coast.